6 Best Marketing Tips for Authors

By Heather Webb

All authors are looking for that magic marketing formula. How much money should we spend on ads? What should our websites look like? How much time should we spend on social media? How do we distinguish ourselves amidst all of the white noise? But these are the wrong questions. The best way to establish oneself as an author, to be an effective marketing guru, isn’t quantifiable. *rips out hair* So what should an author focus on for promotion?

CULTIVATE YOUR VOICE Be yourself, which is to say, be unique! Don’t try to rip off another author’s style. It will not only feel phony to you and your readers will see that you’re trying too hard. Don’t assume they can’t tell. Give them more credit than that. A quick point about online articles and interviews—they are more informal in voice. You don’t want to sound like a stiff or a nag, or you’ll bore your readers.

BE CREATIVE Start your own writing-related services, writer group, or hashtag. Set up a bookstand with your novels at a soccer match, purchase inexpensive paraphernalia with your cover on it or maybe your character’s names. Sell it on your website, distribute it at conferences. People like stuff! Make cupcakes with your book cover on them and bring them to the day job, the community center, or the library. You get the idea. Think outside of the box.

RESEARCH A writer’s research is never finished. Pay attention to what is selling in the book market. Listen to what readers want. Track the changes happening in the industry. How will this information affect your current platform? How can you change to incorporate new trends and more importantly, to reach MORE readers? Do your research, if not daily, weekly.

ENGAGE Reach out! Find ways to connect to different groups of people, both in person and online. Attend conferences, book fairs, and author signings. Volunteer at writing organizations. Cheer on your fellow writers in their quest to publication. Form relationships with people. When your agent tells you to get on Twitter, what they mean to say is, TALK TO PEOPLE. Make friends. Swap anecdotes, swap war stories, or craft ideas, or gardening tips. Anything! What you’re actually doing is forming your tribe. Your tribe will gladly help promote your works because THEY LIKE YOU. Because they’re your friends. And NOT because you spammed everyone with and reviews and quotes from your novels. (I’ve avoided more book buying by seeing people clip a really horrible line from their book and posting it on Twitter or Facebook.) (Be sure to follow the 80%–20% self-promotion rule here. More writers break this rule than not, and it’s REALLY annoying.)

FOCUS ON READERS While it’s true we should be involved in our writing organizations, it’s imperative that published authors, in particular, shift the focus of their efforts toward readers. We love to get caught up talking to other writers and industry pros and traveling to conferences, but other writers aren’t your target audience. Reach out to book clubs. Purchase ads in book club newsletters. Speak at your local library. Write articles on your blog that tie in with your novels, your platform, and interesting or fun or exciting information readers would like to see. Readers talk and share these morsels with others. Word of mouth is still the single most effective method of spreading the word about your books. Direct the bulk of your efforts to getting readers talking.

WRITE AMAZING, DROOL-WORTHY BOOKS The best way to gain more readers, to harness your success, is to write more books. The kind of books that send readers on a journey, that wrench open minds with a crow bar, that break hearts. Never stop working on your craft. It’s a skill and can only improve with practice, hard work, and time.

So get writing! And remember that being yourself and building relationships are the most effective marketing tools.

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Heather Webb writes historical fiction for Penguin, including BECOMING JOSEPHINE and the forthcoming RODIN’S LOVER (Jan 2015). In addition, she is a freelance editor and contributor to award-winning sites WriterUnboxed.com and RomanceUniversity.org. When not writing, she kicks around a local college teaching craft and industry courses, flexes her foodie skills, or looks for excuses to head to the other side of the world.

Learn more about Heather and her books at her website and blog. She can also be found on Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads.